The Merseyside club beat Aston Villa 1-0 on Saturday, with Daniel Sturridge getting the only goal of the game in the first half.

Rodgers believes the spirit in the dressing room is much better than last season and praised the players for staying focused over a distracting summer.

"It's much better than last year," Rodgers told reporters. "It took us until September to get our first win. I think since January we have been getting better and improving. It's all credit to the players. They have been absolutely first class.

"There's a lot of speculation and maybe a lot of distractions over the course of the summer with everything that has been written.

"I think you have to give remarkable praise to them that we've just stayed and focused on our task which was to make a good start."

Liverpool face a tough test against rivals Manchester United at Anfield next Sunday.